Setting You Up – Talking with Co-Founder of the Tie Collective

You want to dress up for an event, you have your suit, shirt, and shoes, but what about the rest? Two dapper gents out of Sydney have set out to help alleviate both the emotional and fiduciary hassle of buying suit accessories.

The Tie Collective has got you covered. With their tie box sets, you get all the accessories you need, perfectly matched together so you do not have to worry about anything but flaunting your dapper wear. We recently spoke to Co-Founder Adam Daniels about the story and the process behind The Tie Collective.

The Tie Collective was birthed out of the plight of the everyday gent, trying to find and purchase suiting accessories. Their aim is to give the everyday gent a rotation of fashionable accessories without having to worry about the costs or the issue of what matches.

Another issue that many gents face is the need for quality accessories, as a cheap tie can make even a nice suit look drab, when it should be elevating your attire.

Co-founders, Adam and Chris, met each other from their days in the Royal Australian Navy. After six years in the navy, I was curious how the skills learnt there transferred into the business world and ultimately, the running of The Tie Collective.

“I believe it [the navy] has taught us a lot of valuable lessons, one of which has influenced greatly our reasons for creating The Tie Collective” Adam tells me, “this was grooming. Especially whilst working at sea, we were still required to have impeccable grooming and this had to be achieved often with very little time."

"Often there would be horrendous conditions, moving ships and razor blades don’t go hand in hand. So we were forced to become very efficient at maintaining very high standards. We noticed this hadn’t been achieved for basic menswear when we came ashore, hence the birth of The Tie Collective; simple, straight-forward products with exceptional quality.”

The thought alone of shaving daily daunts most dapper gents, yet to do so whilst on the high seas is a remarkable feat. As Adam said, The Tie Collective is all focused around providing men with “simple, straight-forward products of exceptional quality.” Yet as many know, quality often is not as easily made and it is often hard to show the world your quality product as Adam explains,

“The major hurdle we have is convincing people that our products are of a high quality. It’s not enough to just tell someone that we have sourced high-quality products; we need to show them, which can often be difficult when you are based online. However, we are slowly getting products into physical locations and the general reaction from people is ‘wow’. As we build this physical presences and grow brand awareness, this is an issue we are overcoming.”

Like everything in life, starting a business is about taking that first step forward. Most businesses never leave the dreams of their creators. As Adam tells me, “we spent a lot of time researching how to do things in the beginning without just taking the plunge and trying them.”

And this is often what separates innovators from the rest, rather than finding the right answer, look ahead, take a step in the right direction and find the answers along the way. As a seasoned entrepreneur Adam says that he is “much more likely to dive headfirst and learn by doing, it saves a lot of time and money.” Good advice for anyone looking to create something.

Later I questioned Adam on his thoughts of suit accessorising. He tells me that you should dress for your occasion and for your mood. For example if you are a loud person wear bright colours, try a reverse puff fold for your pocket square; if you are more conservative find comfort in darker tones, and wear your pocket square in a sophisticated triangle fold.

Adam’s go-to attire is a suit, tie, tie clip, and pocket square, but if going to an event he will implement some more features like a lapel pin. Therefore in Adam’s opinion, for day to day wear, you don't have to flaunt every possible suiting accessory, just go with what the event and the mood dictates, although it is good to have all the options so you can pick and chose.

Adam tells me that there is one accessory you should never go without, given you are wearing a tie – a tie clip. While it does not need to stand out or be an attention piece, the tie clip offers great practicability, “if it’s windy, it stops it flapping around; if you’re bending over food and drink, it stops it falling in and getting stained.”